Dame Carmen Thérèse Callil, DBE, FRSL was an Australian publisher, writer, and critic who spent most of her career in the United Kingdom. She founded Virago Press in 1973. She was a recipient of the Benson Medal from the Royal Society of Literature in 2017
In the same year she left for Europe, and, after a period in Italy, settled in London in 1964. She worked for Marks & Spencer as a buying assistant, then, after placing an advertisement in The Time, began work at Hutchinson in 1965.
Carmen Callil dies: Cause Of death revealed
Carmen Callil, the publisher and writer who championed female writers and changed the canon of English literature, died of leukemia in London on Monday at the age of 84. Her agent confirmed the news.
Callil began as a campaign outsider, establishing the feminist imprint Virago Press, publishing contemporary bestsellers including Margaret Atwood, Maya Angelou, and Angela Carter. She challenged the male-dominated canon of English literature by bringing back a list of modern classics by authors including Antonia White, Willa Cather, and Rebecca West, and eventually became a pillar of the literary establishment.
